Jesús 'Txutxi' Aranguren Merino (26 December 1944 – 21 March 2011) was a Spanish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defender and coach. His 13-year professional career was solely associated with

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

, with which he played in nearly 400 official games, winning two

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

trophies.

Playing career

Born in

Portugalete Portugalete is a town lying to the west of Bilbao in the province of Biscay in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, northern Spain. The town has 45,294 inhabitants as of 2021 and is part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. It is located ...

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

, Aranguren joined Basque Country giants

's youth system at the age of 16, from neighbouring

Sestao Sport Club Sestao Sport Club was a Spanish football club based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded it 1916 it held home matches at ''Campo Municipal de las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,900 seats. History Sestao managed to ...

. On 18 November 1962, one month shy of his 18th birthday, he made his first-team – and

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

– debut, playing the entire 2–1 away win against

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Córdoba, Andalusia, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1954 after the dissolution of RCD Córdoba. Currently it plays ...

, and finished his first season with 18 matches. Aranguren would be an important defensive unit for Athletic in the following 11 campaigns, starting in 225 of the 229 games he appeared in the league and helping to win two

trophies. After no appearances in 1974–75 he retired from football, aged only 30; during his spell with the club he scored five

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

s to another legendary teammate,

José Ángel Iribar José Ángel Iribar Kortajarena (born 1 March 1943), nicknamed ''El Chopo'' ("the Populus, Poplar"), is a Spanish former professional association football, football goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and Manager (association football ...

.Aranguren, el terror de Iribar (Aranguren, Iribar's nightmare)

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

, 1 May 2003 (in Spanish)

Coaching career

Aranguren started managing at his only club, being in charge of its youth teams first then the reserves. Subsequently, he spent nine seasons in the second division, starting with another local side,

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

, and achieving promotion in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

with

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in '' Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club ha ...

, a first-ever for the Riojans; also under his guidance, they managed to retain their status the following season. After one year with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

, Aranguren managed Athletic Bilbao during fifteen games in the 1991–92 season, following the dismissal of his former club teammate

Iñaki Sáez José Ignacio "Iñaki" Sáez Ruiz (born 23 April 1943) is a Spanish former football player and manager. A defender, he spent the vast majority of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao, which he later also coached in various levels, app ...

. With six wins, two draws and seven losses, he eventually placed the team out of the relegation zone (14th position). In 1994, Aranguren returned to Alavés, winning promotion in his first year and staying with the team for a further two seasons, the second ending on 16 February 1997 following a 2–3 home loss against

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

. In the following years, he worked mainly with Alavés' B-team; however, on 29 April 2003, he replaced Mané at the helm of the main squad for the final seven games of the campaign, which ended in top-flight relegation.

Death

Aranguren retired from management in 2005, to care for his sick wife. On 21 March 2011, whilst accompanying her to a checkup in the Cruces Hospital in

Barakaldo Barakaldo (; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Biscay province in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country in Spain. Located on the Left Bank (Biscay), Left Bank of the Estuary of Bilbao, the city is pa ...

, he succumbed to a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

, dying at the age of 66.'Txutxi' Aranguren, un defensa total ('Txutxi' Aranguren, a complete defender)
El País, 22 March 2011 (in Spanish)

Honours

Player

Athletic Bilbao *

Copa del Generalísimo The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...

: 1969, 1972–73; Runner-up 1965–66, 1966–67

Manager

Alavés *

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

: 1994–95

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aranguren, Txutxi 1944 births 2011 deaths Footballers from Portugalete Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's amateur international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Athletic Bilbao B managers Deportivo Alavés managers Recreativo de Huelva managers Deportivo de La Coruña managers CD Logroñés managers Sporting de Gijón managers Athletic Bilbao managers Levante UD managers FC Cartagena managers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen